Lemon Blueberry No-Bake Cheesecake

This Lemon Blueberry No Bake Cheesecake is an absolute dream. The lemon zest is the star of the show here and is complimented by a homemade blueberry topping and whipped cream.  Once you get the hang of the no-bake cheesecake recipe, the potential flavor combinations could be completely customized.  Having  a no-bake cheesecake recipe is absolutely clutch in the late summer months when the absolute last thing you want to do is turn on the oven. 

Disclaimer:

I technically baked the cookie crust — using crushed biscoff cookies — but you can use a store bought graham cracker cookie instead. 

Benefits of a no-bake cheesecake

 1  You don’t have to mess with a water bath. 

2. The dreaded cheesecake crack {or crater} isn’t possible

3.  A no-bake cheesecake comes together so quickly

4. You can make a  silky smooth cheesecake anytime you want. 

No- Bake Cheesecake Ingredients 

• Cream cheese 
• Sour cream or creme fraiche 
• Sugar 
• Cookie crust 
• Lemon zest 
• Cool whip 
• Topping of your choice: blueberry topping, fresh fruit  whipped cream

A couple of notes 

• Technically you can make your own whipped cream and sub out the cool whip — but since it’s hot outside and my time in the kitchen is limited, I made my life easier and bought some cool whip. According to Serious Eats, you can make creme fraiche yourself, but again, we're keeping things simple.
• This recipe can be made with either sour cream or crème fraiche. I can never find crème fraiche at the grocery store by my house - if you can find it congratulations!
• Use full fat cream cheese. I know it’s tempting to buy the reduced fat cream cheese. I just can’t guarantee that it will turn out because I didn’t use it this time. Choose your own adventure. 

Special equipment:

A hand mixer. Using a hand mixer makes this recipe a breeze, but if you want a decent arm work out a whisk will get the job done. 

If you want to be extra and pipe a cool whip border on the No bake cheesecake you will need a piping bag fitted with the piping tip of your choice. 

How to make a no-bake cheesecake

Start with room temperature cream cheese. You can go about this two ways— you can remember you want to make this no-bake cheesecake a couple hours in advance. And when you remember you take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator and put it on the counter.   

The second way is to forget that you needed room temperature cream cheese until 5 minutes before you start to put the No-Bake Cheesecake together. Just unwrap the cream cheese and place it in a microwave safe bowl and microwave it for 7-15 seconds. The time varies based on your microwave — you want the cheesecake to be soft, not so hot that the edges of the cream cheese brick are melting. 

Honestly, getting the cream cheese to room temperature is the hardest part. 

From there you mix the cream cheese, sour cream and sugar together until it’s smooth.   A hand mixer is the best tool for the job because you can really whip a lot of air into the batter to get a smooth cheesecake-like consistency. 

Next add the lemon zest and vanilla extract.  And finally fold in the cool whip with a flexible spatula. 

Pour the cream cheese batter into the cookie crust and set the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  When you’re ready to serve, garnish with the topping and extra whipped cream. 

Yes, I put store bought whipped cream into a piping bag and piped a border around the pie crust.  I’m always looking for opportunities to practice those piping skills. I found that placing a piping bag filled with whipped cream in the freezer for 5 minutes helped it keep it’s shape while piping. (Just in case you want to try this out yourself) 

Freezer Stash MVP

If the no-bake cheesecake isn’t immediately devoured it will last in the fridge for two - three days. By day three  it’s probably time to decide if you want to freeze slices for later.  If you do - place the pie in the freezer covered with aluminum foil for a couple of hours. Once the pie is firm, slice into desired wedges and wrap each slice in plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. Put all of the slices in a resealable freezer bag with the date and freeze.  Later, when you’re ready for a slice of cheesecake, thaw it in the fridge. Easy Peasy. Lemon Squeezy. 

Until next time,

Richelle. 

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